Jihadis on recruiting spree in Assam

Army-police operation in Barpeta district

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 12: Amidst reports of suspected jihadis entering Assam from Bangladesh, it now transpires that jihadi elements active in the State are trying to recruit local youths in Islamic terror groups and send them outside for training. This has come to light following the arrest of four suspected jihadis in Barpeta district last night.    

Assam Police and Army in a joint operation bbed four suspected jihadis from Roumari Pathar in Barpeta district. During their interrogation, it was revealed that two of the four arrested persons have links with terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and were actively working to recruit youths, police souces said.

Acting on a specific input, a joint police-Army team launched an operation in the area and apprehended the four suspected jihadis. They were identified as Kashimul Haque, Akram Ali, Majibur Rahman and Jahanuddin.

“We have found that among the arrested four suspected jihadis, Kashimul and Akram have links with Harkut-ul-Mujahidden. The duo underwent jihadi training in West Bengal and established contact with jihadis before the Burdwan blast,” lbari SP Bedanta Madhab Rajkhowa told The Sentinel.

Rajkhowa said that both Kashimul and Akram tried to recruit at least 10 to 12 local youths and planned to send them outside the State for jihadi training. The police will seek their custody to extract more information in the coming days, he added.

Earlier on Monday, DGP Mukesh Sahay had said that reports appearing about suspected jihadis entering Assam from Bangladesh through Meghalaya were being verified, but were yet to be corroborated.

Sahay however confirmed that an intelligence report had stated that a group of suspected jihadis could have entered the State.

A jihadi module in Assam had first come to light following investigations into accidental blasts at Burdwan in Bengal on October 2, 2014. The blasts had taken place at a JMB hideout.

Following the investigations, at least 30 persons having links with the terror module were bbed in Assam, including two imams.

The JMB had allegedly set up a camp for imparting physical and weapons training to the outfit’s cadres in Chirang district which was later busted by security forces. After Chirang, Barpeta district too has been identified as a hotbed of jihadi activities.

ADG (special branch) Pallab Bhattacharyya had recently said that one Sahidul Islam of Barpeta has been missing since the Burdwan blasts. The NIA is also on his lookout. Sahidul’s village is Roumari Pathar, from where the police-army joint team bbed the four suspected jihadis on Monday night.